Ram’s new and smaller van to compete with Nissan, Ford

Chrysler has great confidence in its Ram brand, which acts as a commercial/truck side for the Chrysler namesake brand – preparing today to unveil the smallest addition to the Ram ProMaster cargo van line-up.

Just judging from the decisions for Ram’s already revealed vans, there’s an easy way to know that Ram’s ProMaster City model will be fully based on Fiat’s Doblo cargo van. The Ram cargo van line-up has been designed to fight new entries in the commercial segment from Nissan and Ford – which have slowly, but steadily introduced on the North American market models designed for global appeal and already well known (albeit with a different name sometimes) in the European region.

“Years ago, the selection of delivery and cargo vehicles was limited and those offerings didn’t focus on cost of ownership,” Reid Bigland, president and chief executive officer of the Ram brand. “Today all of that has changed with the recent introduction of the full-size Ram ProMaster and now the Ram ProMaster City.”

The Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker sees the Ram’s brand commercial appeal over the next five years total around 400,000 units sold, with the new ProMaster City making up around 25% of the sales. The model is designed to fight the smaller offerings from Nissan – the NV200 or the latest Ford introduction in the segment – the Transit Connect.